1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display format for a living body measurement apparatus for measuring physical characteristic for a person under test and for calculating body composition based on the measured value.
2. Prior Art
Various types of apparatus have been known in the art for calculating an index of living body composition such as body fat rate, visceral fat level, basal metabolism, etc., using bioelectrical impedance. Such apparatus are considered useful for health care and become popular in home use.
Previous measurement apparatus have generally been designed to display the measurement result in numerical value. Accordingly, a person under test, if having no expert skill, could not immediately decide whether the value is higher or lower. Therefore, it was common that the decision of whether the result is normal or not is made with reference to a table or a brochure listing some standard values, for example.
Another type of apparatus has been proposed that is configured to display a graph showing the progress of body condition up to now, together with the past data.
However, such apparatus was defective in that even if the person can see the measurement result it is very difficult to determine whether the body condition for the person is normal or not based on the measurement result.
In case of further apparatus that has been proposed to display a plurality of living body compositions, because of several numerical values simply displayed for those body compositions, it was difficult for a person under test to immediately understand which of the values is higher than normal. In addition, it was hard for the person to memorize all the values and to remain them in his memory. Accordingly, irrespective of a plurality of living body compositions displayed with much effort, they actually have not fully been utilized for health care.
Furthermore, display of the measurement result in numerical value was especially devoid of interest and was the cause for getting tired of the measurement. Therefore, there was such tendency that the measurement apparatus such as a body fat meter and a visceral fat meter that are necessary for health care during longer period of time by continuous measurement is used only once and thereafter it is not used at all. From the viewpoint of health care it is hard to say that the previous measurement apparatus has properly been utilized.
In addition, a child who has not yet learned the numerals could not understand the measurement result displayed in numerical value. Therefore, the child had no way for understanding it, except for asking the parent, for example.
Further type of apparatus has been proposed wherein some letters are used to represent what measurement result is displayed. However, such apparatus has not fully been utilized by the foreign people who do not read the letters because they could not understand the meaning of the measurement result.
In view of the above an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved measurement apparatus for outputting the measurement result for living body composition, which is displayed not only in numerical value, but also in visually understandable manner, and which can be understood by any person under test and can be memorized as some visual image.
Displaying the measurement result with great interest makes possible for a person under test to continue the measurement, which is consequently useful for health care for longer period of time.